Solothurn Cathedral

The St. Ursus Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Ursus) or Solothurn Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in the city of Solothurn, Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Ursus and Victor were 3rd-century Roman martyrs and saints. They were associated very early with the Theban Legion, who were, according to the hagiography of the legion, martyred for refusing to worship the Emperor. The Life of Ursus was written by Saint Eucherius of Lyon in the 5th century; it recounts that Ursus was tortured and beheaded under Emperor Maximian and the governor Hyrtacus for refusing to worship idols around 286. The first church on the site was built in the Early Middle Ages. St. Ursus of Solothurn was venerated in the city by the 5th century. By 870 there was a college of canons and presumably a collegiate church in Solothurn. A Romanesque church might have existed, but there is no written or archeological evidence to support or refute it. The first documented record of the Gothic church comes from 1294, while the altars were ordained in 1293 and 1298.